Gifted/talented students have unique cognitive and social-emotional needs that require specialized educational settings, services and support to fully develop their potential and promote their academic success. Gifted/Talented Programs, Advanced Learning Options, is committed to ensuring that the unique academic and social-emotional needs of gifted/talented learners are met in every K-12 District school, including local schools of residence. Each Los Angeles Unified school with identified or verified gifted learners, regardless of program type, must cluster-group gifted learners for instruction and provide meaningful differentiated learning opportunities that challenge students to achieve beyond grade-based standards and expectations.

Schools for Advanced Studies (SAS) demonstration sites receive the SAS designation for their exemplary Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) implementation SAS, initially implemented in the 1998–1999 school year was created to acknowledge exemplary school models of innovative, equitable and effective GATE practices districtwide. By providing high-quality differentiated instruction with an emphasis on depth, complexity, acceleration and novelty, SAS sites offer high-level academic opportunities that meet the unique educational needs of K–12 gifted learners, identified in the Intellectual Ability, High Achievement Ability, Specific Academic Ability, Creative Ability and Leadership Ability categories or verified based on achievement or critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Resident schools must undergo a rigorous application process every five years to obtain or maintain the SAS designation.

The goal of Gifted/Talented Programs is to identify gifted and talented students from diverse racial socioeconomic, linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and to provide high-quality differentiated opportunities for learning that develop and advance students’ unique abilities and talents.

SAS reflects the District’s commitment to ensure equitable access, excellence and accountability to high-quality GATE programs districtwide. SAS sites serve as District demonstration centers for innovative and research-based differentiated curriculum and instruction for gifted/high ability learners in multiple categories. SAS sites have a proven commitment and ability to offer a sustained, highly effective, exemplary GATE program that includes essential GATE program components: 1) Gifted Identification, 2) Instruction and Academic Achievement of GATE Learners, 3) Knowledgeable and Skilled Staff in Gifted Education and 4) Parent, Family and Community Engagement.

Differentiation is an essential part of ensuring that the unique educational needs of gifted/talented students are appropriately addressed in the GATE/SAS classroom. Differentiated programming is not “more of the same” or simply acceleration of content/pacing, but also includes depth, complexity and novelty. GATE/SAS cluster grouping allows schools to provide more challenging coursework, giving gifted/high ability learners daily access to advanced content and new learning, as well as providing students with an academic peer group in core subjects.

How are Teachers Trained?
Gifted/talented learners must be taught by knowledgeable teachers, skilled in differentiating curriculum and instruction to support and advance their learning. As such, GATE professional development–specialized training about gifted/talented learners and how they learn best–is an essential and ongoing part of the expectations for SAS teachers and administrators. Each school’s GATE program must be supported by administrators, GATE coordinator and instructional support staff with developed expertise in GATE. SAS teachers and administrators are required to participate annually in professional development specifically tailored to address the unique academic and social-emotional needs of gifted/ talented learners to ensure that the curriculum and instruction (content, process and product) are thoughtfully differentiated to promote a culture of equity, rigor, achievement and innovation.

• Students residing within the school boundaries of a designated SAS site who meet the eligibility criteria must be placed in the site’s SAS gifted/ talented program (unless a parent has opted out). All qualified students residing within school boundaries must be accommodated before any applicants from outside school boundaries are enrolled. No formal application is required for a qualified student residing within school boundaries since SAS is the school site’s GATE instructional program for its students.
• All students in grades Pre-K–11 who reside within Los Angeles Unified boundaries but outside school boundaries and who meet one of three eligibility criteria are eligible to apply for SAS participation for the following year. For SAS applicants, the teacher and principal of a student’s current school of attendance are responsible for determining if the student meets at least one of the three eligibility criteria.
• It is the responsibility of the parent/guardian of private school, independent charter and non-Los Angeles Unified applicants (including incoming kindergarten SAS applicants) to ensure that the appropriate Verification of Eligibility form AND Choices application are submitted by the deadline. Homeschooled applicants or applicants not enrolled in preschool/UTK must contact GATE@lausd.net by the deadline for verification information.
• For information regarding verification of eligibility requirements click here.

SAS applicants must meet at a minimum one of three eligibility criteria: FOR AN APPLICANT TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR SCHOOLS FOR ADVANCED STUDIES, THE STUDENT MUST BE VERIFIED AS MEETING ONE OF THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA PRIOR TO FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2024, AT 5:00 P.M.

1. Student is identified as gifted by LAUSD in: Intellectual Ability, High Achievement Ability, Specific Academic Ability, Creative Ability or Leadership Ability category. OR
2. Student scored in the Standard Exceeded range on the 2024 Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) or received a national percentile score of 85 or above on a District-approved standardized norm-referenced test in both English Language Arts and Mathematics (most recent year only). See Verification of Eligibility form for qualifying subtests. OR
3. Student demonstrates the ability to meet ALL FOUR critical thinking and problem-solving skills (in primary language):
   1. Explain meanings or relationships among facts, information or concepts that demonstrate depth and complexity.
   2. Formulate new ideas or solutions and elaborate on the information.
   3. Use alternative methods in approaching new or unfamiliar mathematical problems.
   4. Use extensive vocabulary easily and accurately to express creative ideas

The school of attendance will determine if your child demonstrates all four critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Applicants verified through the four critical thinking and problem-solving skills criterion must also demonstrate the ability or strong potential to work two years above grade level in academic subjects. NOTE: Kindergarten SAS applicants must also be verified using the SAS kindergarten- specific criteria on the Verification of Eligibility (SAS Kindergarten) form. The recommendation submitted by the current school of attendance is final.

To ensure equitable access, each of the three SAS eligibility criteria carries equal weight in the selection process. Therefore, priority placement cannot be given to students identified as gifted/highly gifted or those who meet test score criteria. For inquiries related to gifted identification or SAS eligibility, contact Gifted/Talented Programs at (213) 241-4177 or GATE@lausd.net.

Kindergarten SAS Eligibility Criteria
SAS is a K-12 site designation. Universal transitional kindergarten (UTK) SAS classes are not available. All kindergarten SAS applicants must be verified by the administrator of the preschool or the UTK program as meeting the eligibility criteria (i.e., all four critical thinking and problem-solving skills), as well as a minimum of 10 out of 20 SAS kindergarten-specific criteria:

• Can work independently with evidence of goal-directed behavior
• Uses descriptive words in sentences and uses language to express emotions, ideas and opinions (in primary language)
• Can tell or retell a story with detailed description and expression (in primary language)
• Can recognize and repeat complex patterning sequences and create own patterns
• Can follow multi-step directions with little guidance or redirection
• Identifies the letters A to Z, knows the sounds of all of the letters of the alphabet and can write many of the letters
• Able to orally count to 100, visually identify numbers from 1 to 100 and write numbers 1 to 25
• Demonstrates innate or accelerated understanding of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division
• Able to remember information and experiences (e.g., can recite song lyrics, recall facts) and make connections
• Able to recognize sight words and read with fluency and comprehension
• Demonstrates strong concern for others and their feelings; strong sense of justice
• Initiates play sessions, coordinates and integrates multiple complementary roles and considers the actions of others
• Uses unconventional objects in play activities
• Interacts easily with peers; frequently sought out by peers for companionship, ideas and decisions
• Demonstrates mature sense of humor; responds to and creates riddles and verbal associations
• Demonstrates evidence of reasoning, logical thinking, creativity and spontaneous incorporation of academic activities into free play
• Expresses ideas, seeks information through questioning and enjoys interacting verbally with adults and older children
• Demonstrates advanced task commitment and energy when learning
• Able to remember complex information and decode symbolic systems (e.g., maps, codes)
• Demonstrates curiosity; displays unexpected depth of knowledge in one or more areas

For kindergarten applicants who are not enrolled in preschool or UTK, parents/guardians must contact Gifted/Talented Programs at (213) 241-4177 or GATE@lausd.net for information regarding verification procedures prior to Friday, December 6, 2024. You may also visit the Gifted/Talented Programs website at lausd.org/gate (select Program Options and SAS).

SAS applicants who meet eligibility criteria and who reside outside school boundaries, but within Los Angeles Unified boundaries, may be selected for participation after students residing within the boundaries of a designated SAS site are accommodated. If spaces are available, a selection process for qualifying SAS applicants will be conducted in this order:

1. Siblings residing within Los Angeles Unified boundaries (must meet SAS eligibility criteria)
2. Students residing within Los Angeles Unified boundaries (must meet SAS eligibility criteria)

If there are more qualified applicants than spaces available at the school, a random, unbiased selection process will be conducted. Siblings of current students in the same school/program have priority for attendance so long as resident students are not displaced. There is no priority point accrual process for SAS. Priority points are used by the Magnet Program only.

If not selected to their first choice, the applicant will be considered for their second and/or third choice. If selected to any one of their choices, the applicant will not be on the waiting list for the other choice(s). If not selected to an SAS site, the applicant will be placed on the waiting list for their first choice only.

HOW DO I APPLY TO AN AFFILIATED CHARTER SITE WITH THE SAS DESIGNATION?
Students interested in an SAS gifted/talented program at an Affiliated Charter School site must apply for, and be selected to, the Affiliated Charter School. Application and selection to an Affiliated Charter School is conducted through an annual lottery through the Choices application process. If a student is selected for a designated SAS site through the Affiliated Charter process and meets one of the SAS eligibility criteria, this student must be accommodated in the site’s SAS gifted/talented program. For Affiliated Charter School enrollment procedures, please refer to the Affiliated Charter Schools section.

HOW DO I APPLY TO A ZONES OF CHOICE SITE WITH THE SAS DESIGNATION?
If a parent would like their child to attend a Schools for Advanced Studies (SAS) site within their Zone of Choice (ZOC), the 5th, 6th or 8th grade student must select that site as their first choice during the ZOC selection process. If a student is assigned to a designated SAS site through this ZOC process and meets one of the SAS eligibility criteria, this student must be accommodated in the site’s SAS gifted/talented program. Placement appeals through the ZOC office will not be considered if student did not select the SAS site as their first choice on the ZOC application. For information about Zones of Choice, contact the ZOC office at (213) 241-0466 or www.lausd.org/zoc.

Transportation may be available for students participating in Choices programs. Please visit the Transportation Services Division website at www.lausd.org/transportation to complete the opt-in process or speak to an administrator at your school to inquire about transportation options.

Please contact the Choices Support Line at (213) 241-4177 or applyforschools@lausd.net if you have questions about SAS.